80 plymouth arrow pickup

[Vigo]

Hey guys, i just fulfilled a long dormant goal of mine.. picking up a plymouth arrow truck! My dad had a 79 sport when i was a kid and i loved the thing, but it was gone before i learned to drive.

I laid my hands on an 80, regular car short bed 2wd 2.0L 4spd manual. Orange, with some yellow striping and a matching, sweet looking camper :confused::hail: for $200.

Its been sitting for 10 years and the carb is completely seized up. The motor still turns and generally its in good shape for being so old.

I've been looking around for general info on the motor. It's basically a smaller displacement version of the same motor that was put in the turbo starions and conquests. I like the basic design well enough that i think i'll keep it around, but im not digging the idea of trying to rehab this carb, or even of finding a new one. I was thinking of buying a megasquirt 1 and throwing a dodge tbi (i have many) on it til i learn the ropes and then maybe getting an mpi manifold and turboing it.

Anyone here have relevant experience or been a starion or conquest owner?

I'll try to get pics up but it may be weeks since im storing it at my parents'.

[cordes]

Post up some pics for sure. That would be a cool MS project.

[Daytona22]

Sounds VERY interesting. Pictures please! :thumb: :eyebrows:

[2.216VTurbo]

Hmm, I wonder if the Starion/Conquest G54BT motor would bolt up:eyebrows: Plenty of folks talk smack about that motor but they make great torque, are as close as your local J yard, and mine lasted me 130K hard driven miles with relatively minor maintenance...

[turbo84voyager]

Nice find. What carb is on it? Hitachi? (does it have a sight glass for the float ). Honestly I would pull the carb and try cleaning it. The Hitachi used on some of these trucks actuially wasnt a bad carb. It was the best running one I ever had. The Mikuni is another story. A good cleaning might be enough to get it running. The conquests had TBI injection even on the turbo's. One engine which will fit if not bolt right in is a mazda rotary. This pickup is very similar to the B-series mazda's under the hood and they were availiable in the 70's with the rotary. I was thinking about this swap in my 84 B2000 but the engine only had 60K and then I bought my black turbo mini. Before you start the engine I would make sure to change all fluids ( atleast engine oil ) and it probabily wouldnt be a bad idea to put an ounce of marvels mystery oil in each cylinder and slowly turn it over by hand.

Justin

[TurbododgePirate]

:needpics1:

[Vigo]

Hmm, I wonder if the Starion/Conquest G54BT motor would bolt up Plenty of folks talk smack about that motor but they make great torque, are as close as your local J yard, and mine lasted me 130K hard driven miles with relatively minor maintenance...
__________________


Its the same motor family, it would be a drop in except for the electronics. bolt up to my 4spd manual.. hehe..

got the camera charged up, hopefully pics this weekend.

im pretty sure its a mikuni.. thinking of just dipping the whole thing in a bucket of solvent for a few weeks while im working on other stuff :p

[turbo84voyager]

dont dip it in solvent for a long time and dont do it assembled.

[black86glhs]

Spraying with carb cleaner and then PB blaster would be better for it. The blaster works on more than just rust. :thumb:

[Vigo]

well im mostly basing this off my experience with an 82 accord i owned for a while.. carb was all seized up on that one too and after a lot of messing with it i never got the blades open again.. but i did manage to trash the thing trying. :/

[Vigo]

OK! got pics off the cam finally.

here's the one of the truck. You get the idea..
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC02770.jpg
dont worry, it came with a cooler set of wheels in the bed.



Thanks for looking. As you can see, the truck is PIMP!!

[Vigo]

what no comments on my truck whatsoever?! its SUPER SWEET!!1!!

[trbowgn]

Sweet truck man I love the orange and the topper just finishes it off.
Hurry up and get those color coded wheels on and post picks of the whole package.

[Johnny]

NICE!
I also look around for one. I want a 4x4 with the diesel turbo engine.

Johnny

[Vigo]

If i thought there was snowflakes chance in hell of me finding one of those sweet diesels i might have held out, but i was glad just to find this in one piece, especially a plymouth! they only made them as plymouths for 2 or 3 years, its very much similar to finding a plymouth scamp. I DID find a scamp gt here in SA, one of 500 and probly far fewer remain than of the shelby cars with similar production. I loved the paint, stripes, wheels, etc, but not the price. I had a gmc caballero at one point too. I must have a thing for rare badge-engineering jobs!

[ScottD]

Truck looks good!

I've seen a few of those with V8s in them, I don't think it is a terribly involved swap.

[Johnny]

OR how about a 2.5 from a Dakota?

[Vigo]

well i've done gone brainstormed me up some ideas.

first part of the plan is ordering myself a megasquirt setup since ive been planning on doing that for like 3 years now, and bolting a dodge tbi (i have like 5) onto the manifold and making it run. This part is mostly so i can learn megasquirt and have the truck mobile.

2nd part involves getting a wideblock 4g64 or g4cs bottom end (2.4L generally sohc newer mitsu motor) and bolting a 1g 4g63/manifolds to it. It'll bolt up to my tranny, parts have a lot of potential, and that mix of stock bottom end and swapped head nets 11:1 compression or so. I'll have to build a harness and take over the ignition, but i should be able to tune that pile of stock junk to 150hp or so. Truck only weighs about 2500lbs, so i should be able to at least run low 16s at 80 something mph.


step 3 is optional, where i boost it.


There's also a step where i learn to drift. i think its between 2 and 3. http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=2363601

[Captain Chaos]

Those are neat trucks, but here in Fl anyway the beds are usually rusted pretty bad where the lower pieces are attached to the upper portion.

[Dodge Aries K]

I want that Iris Sport Neon... *drool*

[Vigo]

d00d you're trying to sell all the ones you already have lol!

mine is a hackjob imo. Its been messed with before and has some ugly wiring, and the tranny i put in to get it driveable had 260k on it. I still like driving it. Definitely faster than my t1/auto spirit on 12 psi.

[Dodge Aries K]

But that's because I hate automatics... I love stick shift Neons.

Besides, for some reason I wanted one of those goofy Iris ones.

[MNmopar]

I want that Iris Sport Neon... *drool*

I want the new yorker. Man that will make a badass sleeper!

[MoparN75]

I recall having seen/read an article in a mag about how easy it was to put a small block V8 in those trucks. But it's been years.

[Vigo]

Well, i pulled the little truck up to my place in San Marcos finally, now that ive got some tools here.

My first step is going to be pulling out the seats and vinyl floors and cleaning up all the surface rust on the floorpans. Ill probably be doing a bedliner-type coating on the floorboards.

I think a friend is hooking me up with some last-gen Celica seats. I will probably have to dye them eventually but ill start fabbing up some brackets when i get them.

[ljbprrfmof]

Just found this thread. Later D50's had the larger 2.6 L available and they pulled good. On the car side of the Arrow nameplate, the had the Fire Arrow that had the 2.6 out of the Sapporo/Challenger and all three models were fun and fairly fast. The Arrow being lighter always intrigued me as a great candidate for a Conquest/Starion intercooled turbo 2.6 swap candidate. Add the Japanese bumpers that fit flusher thant the 5mph impact bumpers and some Conquest Recaro leather seats, you got a fun car.

And to the point of the post, I bet a 2.6 turbo would be an easy swap into the truck. And there are tons of hi-po parts for that engine. There was a local guy who had a Conquest with a custom cal and bigger cam that was cleaning up at the dragstrip.

[Vigo]

My original plan WAS to do either a 2.6 turbo swap or some kind of 4g63 or 4g64 DOHC motor.

Ive since decided that the more original thing to do would be to do a turbo 2.6 setup in my Executive Sedan.

I dont really want to do the same motor in both cars, so for the truck i'll either mess with the 2.0 g52 thats in it now, or go with one of the DOHC motor builds. In fact, a friend mentioned having one of the turbo 4g61 (1.6L) motors sitting around.. thatd make for an oddball swap, right up my alley!:thumb:

Either way, i plan to get the truck running with the stock motor for the time being. Thanks for the interest!

Ill get up some newer pics soon when i start cleaning the floors.

[Sgt Craig]

I recall having seen/read an article in a mag about how easy it was to put a small block V8 in those trucks. But it's been years.

Real easy swap/ customMounts for motor,904 auto bolts right in as the mitsu auto is a 904 with different bell housing.

[Vigo]

Well, i moved the truck up to where i live, in San Marcos. I hadnt had ANY tools here until recently so i only had the running cars up here and didnt do any work in the evenings.. boring.

So recently i got together a half-way decent set of tools up here and moved the truck so i could work on it when i get bored around the house.

Today i got bored, so i started work on the floors.
I took out the seats and the vinyl floor cover and started trying to get to the rust.
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC09542Medium.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC09543Medium.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC09544Medium.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk124/Vigo327/DSC09546Medium.jpg

Rust is not terrible but this will be my first rust repair ever on floorboards so it'll be a learning experience.

[BLUEBALL]

Maybe fab up an adapter for a Holley non feedback carb. Or Dakota 2.5 drivetrain,turbo of course:eyebrows:

[Sgt Craig]

The 2.0 isnt a bad engine.I had one in a 86 Mighty Max and put alot of miles on it with the 5spd.Other thn being slow as Dirt it wasnt a bad little pickup.Traded it in on a 94 Mighty Max with a 2.4.They look really good lowered.

[Vigo]

Mine will be lowered. I have some different wheels for it and will run shorter tires. Im not sure how i'll be lowering the suspension after that.

I plan to fix the carb on the 2.0 and get it running like this at first.

However, plans after that eventually involve some kind of swap, unless i just come across a starion intake and exhaust manifold without getting the whole motor.

Im also considering some kind of DOHC 4g motor. I already asked a guy i know if he had a 4g61. However, 2.0 or 2.4 are also open options, just depends on what i can get for the closest to free.